The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1887-12-28
HOW 1T HAPPENED.

w 'DN y - H~@-N - @-r'
enphatica,ly.
But what everybody says must be
true" persisted Mrs. Jeffrey.
BY no MEANS said Helen Grant.
"onee everybody said the earth was fiat,
nov we all know it is round"
Speak for yourself retorted Mrs.
Jeffrey " / don't know it's round, but
I'm willingto believe iton good evidence
Thank heaven I'm not SO stubborn that |
won't belieye. am one of the sort that
can be convinced of thing even if
don't see it,
Mrs. Grant flushed little, and tears
came to her eyes.
She is my friend and | love her very
dearly" she said. She has faults
every one can see that-but this wicked,
shameful story, simply can't beIieve@t.
Oh, Mrs. jeffrey, can you not see that it
Is matter of conscience with me as we'll
as with YOU
Mrs. Jeffrey, little ashamed, but of
the same opinion still, rose to 20.
" II the matter Is brought up in the
church, you viii then hear all the evil
dence. After you see the letter you may
change your mind"
Pine Falls was convulsed over its first
scandal. The tongue of censure, that
had family repros.d when Abram Har-
ris had carried his mother off 10 the poor
house, and indulged in audible criticisms
when Laura Cowles had been baptized
in the river and died of inflaInmatory
rheuHiatisn week afterward, had now
broken silence and carried the story from
house to house until it was on every
body lips
mania for visiting seemed to have
broken out among the ladies. Half
dozen could be seen any day, with a lit
Tie bundle oi knitting or crochet work in
hand, going TO make informal visits or
calls at the homes oi their intimate friends
or near neiglibors. To he sure each lady
was very particular To explain, if oppor-
tunity afforded, that She had promised
Mrs So-and-so new stitch or pattern,
or she had been intending 10 take her
work and run in To see Mrs. So-and-so
for six months or more. 1t was re-
ally shame to neglect ones neigh
bors 80.
MIS- Jeffrey and Mrs. Martin wereseat-
ed ON the back porch Of the Jeffrey man
sion, engaged i'll earnest and confidential
conversation. Overhead in the apple
tree the robin sang anheirl. 0a the
floor mischievous kitten played with
Mrs Martins bail of zephyr, tan ding the
thread unheeded, while her crochet
work lay idly in her lap.
She always did seem frivolous to
me-" remarked Mrs. Jeffrey. No care
of her house, no interest in domestic
matters. There is great deal said in
these days about wonan's hiding a
God given talent under bushel, and
sinothering her genius under domestic
drudgery but Eve noticed that the wo-
men who are domestic and take an in
terest in their homes are not the women
who figure in scandal cases or elope-
nicnfsr
Perhaps replied Mrs. Martin, who
was not 10 conservative as her neighbor,
there is great deal of human nature in
women as well as men. Most of them
take an interest in soine one thing oeside
With some it is painting,
with others music, Others fancy work or
have known women who
were really iissilated, you might say, in
religious work, they carried it to such
uIsre sonable lengths. You and |, not
being gifted in any of these directions,
have gone on in plain, quiet home life.
But we must not on that account find
fault with those who see life from diff
ferent standpoint or call them frivolous
because they take an interest in things
We don't care for. Mrs Downs was al
ways fond of dress and fancy aoyk, but
until this story came out everybody seem
ell to like her"
Well. YOU can say what you please"
returned Mrs. Jeffrey, wrathfully, when
a woman behaves herself she won't be
talked about. The most shameful part
Of the whole affair is her assumed inno-
Genre. ! saw her. myself walking the
streets with Mr.. Cotton only hast even
ing, as cool - you please. II there's